Wal-Mart's corporate office on Tuesday refused to discuss its procedures for detaining and using force against shoplifting suspects in wake of the death of Stacy Clay Driver, 30, on Sunday.

Driver, of Cleveland, was chased by employees after he left the store in the 6600 block of FM 1960 East with items they said he stole. Four employees in the Atascocita Wal-Mart wrestled Driver — who was shirtless at the time — to the ground and struggled with him on the hot pavement for 10 to 30 minutes, witnesses said. He stopped breathing and later died at a Humble hospital.

"Most retailers' policies would say that if a person becomes combative, let them go," LaRocca added. "You can tell police, and let the police handle the investigation and follow up."

LaRocca said he is not familiar with Wal-Mart's shoplifting policies, but the chain has a large "loss-prevention" department dedicated to reducing profit "shrinkage" by shoplifters and each Wal-Mart store has loss-prevention employees who monitor and confront suspects.

Harris County sheriff's Lt. John Martin said employees struggled with Driver for some time before they could get him under control in handcuffs. While in handcuffs, he continued to struggle until he stopped breathing, witnesses said.

The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office has not released an autopsy report yet. Martin said the autopsy is complete, but coroners are still awaiting the results of toxicology tests.

"If they determine the death was caused by the action of employees, that would obviously take the investigation in a different direction than if he had a heart problem," Martin said.

Jim Lindeman, an attorney for the Driver family, said the man had no serious health problems.

Sticker switch alleged

Store managers told investigators that Driver entered the store with items marked with a stickers showing he had purchased them, but then he walked into a restroom and placed the stickers on different items — a BB gun, diapers, sunglasses and a pack of BBs — before walking out.

When witness Charles Portz saw the employees struggling with Driver on the parking lot pavement, he did not see any of the alleged stolen items but the sunglasses.

"That's what got my attention, the employee kicked him in the back of the leg, knocked him off balance then they just threw him down to ground," Portz said.

LaRocca said that most shoplifting suspects, when confronted by store employees, will not flee or become combative. In most cases, suspects will turn over merchandise and wait for police.

Christi Gallagher, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, declined repeated requests to discuss the retail chain's techniques for apprehending and detaining suspected shoplifters or whether it permits use of force against suspects. "We don't speak publicly about our security measures," she said.

The International Association of Professional Security Consultants recommends that retail security personnel do not strike, tackle, sit on a suspect, or engage in any contact that might cause physical injury.

Danger of asphyxia

"No merchandise is of such value as to justify physical injury to a suspect," the association states in its "Best Practices" section of its Web site.

Witherspoon always informs his clients that struggling with combative suspects can lead to death by "positional asphyxiation."

"This can happen when someone is on top of a suspect who's face-down with hands handcuffed behind their back," he said. "This prevents them from breathing, and they suffocate."

For the past decade, the International Association of Chiefs of Police has warned against the dangers of positional asphyxia, and many police departments have re-evaluated use-of-force procedures because some suspects have died in struggles.

Witherspoon said the issue is especially acute among retail loss-prevention personnel because they don't have the same training as police officers.

"You can use 'reasonable' force to recover merchandise or detain a person long enough to summon police," McGoey said. "As a rule of thumb, you don't want loss-prevention people tackling people and wrestling people onto the ground, and you certainly don't want them chasing people into parking lots."

He also is unfamiliar with Wal-Mart's policies, but he thinks the country's largest retailer would strictly prohibit chases and physical combat.

Going after shoplifters

The company, however, is widely known for its aggressive prosecution of shoplifters, said Sgt.
Jeff Stauber
of the Sheriff's Department burglary and theft division.

Its aggressiveness also has led to a number of civil lawsuits for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

LaRocca said retailers lose just more than $30 billion annually to "shrinkage," which includes shoplifting and lost products. A typical store loses about 1.5 percent of its profits as a result of shrinkage, he said.

robert.crowe@chron.com

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